Learning to Hide
by stacekat
Summary: "You're highly intelligent, but you're shameful of that fact so you play it down with the use of inappropriate behavior. And you live in fear of showing weakness so you hide behind a constant barrage of jokes and sarcasm." – Declan in Shawn 2.0. A series of one-shots about how Shawn got to be that way. All the little instances in his past that made him try to hide his intelligence.
1. Chapter 1

"_You're highly intelligent, but you're shameful of that fact so you play it down with the use of inappropriate behavior. And you live in fear of showing weakness so you hide behind a constant barrage of jokes and sarcasm." – Declan in Shawn 2.0._ This is a story about how Shawn got to be that way. All the little instances in his past that made him try to hide his intelligence.

**Chapter 1**

At first, Henry didn't think much about it. Babies were babies. They were all fat, whiny, and smelly. Just because Shawn shared some of his genes, didn't make him special or different. Don't get him wrong, he loved his boy. He loved the way Maddie's face softened when she looked at him, how when the crying stopped and the kid giggled, it made the whole place happier and warmer. But Henry knew all parents thought their kids were exceptional, perfect and amazing. So when he noticed how focused Shawn's gaze was, how well he mimicked voices and noises around him, how much he seemed to understand for a baby, Henry didn't think much of it.

As Shawn got older, Henry still didn't pay too much attention. Shawn started to speak earlier than most kids because his mom was a psychologist. She talked to the kid all the time, only natural that he'd talk back sooner than most. And Shawn's ability to remember and parrot back what you said weeks later was just plain annoying. Sure he was a smart kid, annoyingly so, but it was all normal enough.

And the kid was hyper. He got bored easily, always wanting to try something new, never sticking with anything for long. Sure Shawn could draw, read and write at a very young age, but was too busy bouncing around from one thing to the next for there to be anything exceptional about it. Henry always thought the kid needed more discipline and focus.

But it was uncanny how well Shawn seemed to remember the most insignificant of things. He'd hear some TV jingle one time and drive you nuts by singing it perfectly even months later. Shawn would barely have a chance to glance at the menu at a restaurant but he'd remember not only that pineapple cake was on it, but where it was on the menu, how much it cost, and the exact wording of the description. It was a lot of little things which seemed a bit strange, but then again, Henry would be the first to admit he didn't know much about child development. He was too busy at the station, Madeleine was getting more and more involved in her work, and she certainly wasn't a child psychologist either. So Henry just shrugged it off.

It wasn't until Shawn was four years old he realized the kid was a bit different from other children. Madeleine had roped him into taking Shawn to a play date/birthday party for another kid in the neighborhood, some kid named Burton. Henry had lost the post-it note with the address on it Maddie had given him. Lost it after she had questioned him multiple times about if he knew where he was going and if he had the note. Henry wasn't about to call her to ask for help. But Shawn was getting antsy.

"Dad – can we go? We'll be late!" Shawn cried while tugging on Henry's pants.

"In a minute, Shawn. We'll be just fine – just hold your horses." Henry leaned over the desk, riffling through his stack of loose papers. He really should put more effort into organizing his things at home.

"No we won't! We have to pass Miss Patty's house, and take 2 turns to get there! And you always fix the mirror and take 3 minutes before we leave. It's 7 minutes to Gus's house! We'll be 4 minutes late!" Shawn said while pointing at the clock on the wall.

Henry looked up – sure enough, if it took them as long as Shawn claimed, they wouldn't be there until 3:04.

"How do you know that?" Henry asked, pausing in his rummaging to look at Shawn carefully.

"Know what?"

"Know how to get to Gus's house and how long it takes?" Henry elaborated.

"Oh, that's easy. Mom took me there once. And you always do the same thing in the truck before we leave." Shawn stated impatiently while shifting foot to foot.

"You remember how to get there from going just once?"

"Duh," Shawn was obviously annoyed now, not seeing the need to go over what was obvious to him. "It's 4339 Cherry Wood Lane. They have 28 windows, 3 outside doors and a two door garage. His dad's name is Bill and his Mom is Winnie. Isn't Winnie a funny name? I mean she's not a bear and she doesn't even like honey."

Henry just grunted, annoyed how the kid could get himself sidetracked so quickly. "Whatever, let's go," he said gruffly while still looking a bit puzzled at the kid. Maybe he was just making it up. Kids tell outlandish stories all the time. It was an odd story to tell, but then Shawn was an odd kid. He'd find out soon enough.

"Oh, we're going to be 8 minutes late now, too" Shawn added. Henry swore under his breath and they were out the door.

_\- Exactly 10 minutes later at 3:08 pm -_

As Henry exited the truck, he still couldn't quite believe it. The house was exactly where Shawn said it would be. There was a two door garage. He could see 2 doors – the front door and a side door and could easily believe a third lead to the backyard. A quick, rough count made it likely Shawn's 28 window claim was also correct.

Henry rang the doorbell and checked his watch. They were 8 minutes late – it had taken them 7 minutes to get there, meaning he really must have taken 3 minutes in the driveway before leaving. It was getting a bit eerie.

A warm faced woman opened the door, introducing herself as Winnie, Gus's mom. She let them inside, Shawn immediately racing off to find his friend. She explained that she and her husband Bill would be looking after the kids the entire time and Henry should expect to pick Shawn up again at 5:00 pm.

Henry nodded and grunted in all the right places, his mind still a bit preoccupied by Shawn's puzzling recitation earlier. Maddie had an uncanny ability to remember everything she heard, eidetic tonal memory or something, if he recalled correctly. But what Shawn just did, that wasn't just repeating something he'd heard. That was a catalog of details, images, facts he'd automatically collected and then piecing them together in a comprehensive and useful way. That was… it was… not normal. Especially not for a four year old child.

Just as he was about to leave, Henry turned around on the sidewalk, needing to know one last thing.

"Winnie, this is an odd question, I know. But do you like honey?"

"Honey? No, can't stand it. Why do you ask?" She replied a faintly puzzled frown on her face as she held open the front door.

"No reason. Just confirming something." Henry walked back to his truck. He and Maddie obviously need to talk when she got home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Shawn didn't understand what had happened. Gus's party had been great! There was cake, presents, toys, and lots of other kids his age. They had run around playing tag, laughing, it seemed like he was making friends. Then they sat down to play this memory card game thing. People would flip over cards one at a time and try to pick the matching pairs. Shawn wasn't really sure what the point of it was, the game was so easy. He won round after round, bored with the whole thing, and that's when the trouble started.

"He's cheating," one of the other kids whined.

"This is no fun."

"This sucks."

Pretty soon all of kids were complaining and accusing him of cheating, and Shawn didn't know why. He tried to explain it was just really easy, but that just seemed to make every one angrier. Soon all the kids left to go play in the yard with Gus's new ball, but they wouldn't let him play.

"You'll just cheat, you cheater."

Shawn wasn't a cheater. He wasn't! But no one would listen. So he went back inside to sulk in the kitchen by the leftover cake. He just didn't understand. Why couldn't they see how easy it was? It was a stupid game anyway.

"Hey, want to play with my new motorcycles?" It was Gus. He was tugging Shawn's shirt with one hand and holding out the toy bikes with the other.

"Aren't you afraid I'll cheat?" Shawn snapped, still sulking and mad at the other kids.

"I don't think you can cheat playing with motorcycles," Gus said simply. "Besides, I don't think you were cheating earlier."

Shawn spun around and jumped down from his stool. "You don't?" he said eagerly.

"Nope, I just think you're weird." Gus said.

"Thanks…?" Shawn said uncertain if being weird was better than being a cheater. He guessed it must be, because Gus at least seemed willing to play with someone who was weird. Gus handed Shawn one of the motorcycles and they sat down on the kitchen floor and proceeded to see who could make their motorcycle slide the farthest across the tile flooring.

* * *

On the ride home, Henry couldn't help but notice Shawn was unusually quiet. The kid was normally a chatter box; you couldn't get him to shut up. In fact, he'd been dreading the sugar high the kid was likely to still be experiencing after the birthday party. Instead, he had been quiet, only answering questions with soft, one word answers and staring distractedly out the window.

It was making Henry nervous. His mind was still filled with his early observations about Shawn, worried about bringing the subject up with Maddie, and now this. An unusually sullen and quiet child.

"Something bugging you, kid?" He asked, toning down his normally gruff voice in an attempt to seem non-threatening.

"Dad?" Shawn asked softly.

"Yeah? What is it kiddo?" He glanced over to see him looking down at his hands with a worried frown on his face.

"Am I weird?"

"Weird? Why would you ask that?" Henry stalled, momentarily unsure what to say in light of his earlier conclusions.

"It's just – the kids were really mean!" Shawn started to explain heatedly. "We were playing a game, Memory, and you have to flip over cards – and it was just dumb. It was so easy, but no one else was winning, and they said I was cheating, but I wasn't! I wasn't Dad, I swear! It was just dumb, but then no one would play with me, except Gus, he said I wasn't a cheater, just weird." The kid was panting, having spilled the entire story all in a rush, hardly taking time to breath.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, kiddo!" Henry said. The last thing he needed was Shawn hyperventilating on him. "Just take a few breaths, huh?" He pulled the truck over and parked, then reached his hand over to rub the kid's bony shoulders. It may have been said in a rush, but Henry got the general idea of what had happened and it just confirmed his earlier suspicions. Shaw _was_ different, he wouldn't be able to deny that, but hopefully he could make the kid feel a bit better about it.

"I didn't cheat, Dad. I swear," Shawn said, looking up at him with watery eyes. Henry sighed, he wasn't good with all this emotional stuff, but Madeline wasn't here right now and he'd have to tell the kid something.

"I know, Shawn. I believe you," he reassured, giving the kid a brief little squeeze.

"You know how Mom remembers everything we say?" Eidetic tonal memory, Maddie had called it. And really, they should have entertained the possibility their child would inherit some sort of similar gift, but it was so rare. It had really never crossed their minds. And this seemed a bit different, anyway. It wasn't just sounds Shawn seemed to clearly remember. It seemed bigger than that. Obviously they wouldn't know for sure until they took him in to see some kind of specialist, but it seemed likely the kid had some kind of related gift.

"Yeah," Shawn said slowly, not sure where this was going.

"I think you're like Mom, except you remember more things. That's why the game was so easy for you," Henry tried to explain.

"But I wasn't doing anything!" Shawn said, obviously still confused.

"I know, I know," Henry said. "It's just how you are Shawn. But for the other kids, it's harder for them to remember things. They didn't know where the cards were, they had to guess."

Shawn furrowed his brows. Obviously the idea seemed a bit strange to him. "But it was so easy…"

"You have to understand Shawn, what is easy for you can be hard for other people." Henry paused, trying to think how to best explain things. "It's like how I'm good at cooking, but your Mom always burns the fish on the grill. It seems easy to me, but it's hard for her. Do you understand?"

"I guess so." Shawn paused, kicking his against the seat as he thought about it. "Am I weird then?"

"No, Shawn," Henry said. "Just different. Everyone has their own strengths, and you are just good at remembering things. Ok?" Shawn nodded and shrugged, still playing with the hem of his shirt. Henry sighed. Well, that was as good as he was going to get, he supposed. If Shawn was as smart as he suspected, it was going to be all too obvious how 'different' he was from everyone else and there was no real good way to make that easier to accept. Maybe it was better to keep his mind off of it.

"I have a new game for you," Henry said as he started up the truck. "I want you to pay attention to all the cars we see on the way home and then I want you to tell me what color they are when we get home."

"Ok!" Shawn said, always excited about another game. Maybe it was a good thing the kid was so easily distracted. "What do I win if I get all of them right?"

Crap. Henry hadn't thought about that. For that matter, how would he even know if the kid got all of them right? He wasn't likely to remember all of them by the time they got home. He was going to have to think of a better game if this was going to become a regular thing. Well, best just fake it for today.

"If you get them all right, we'll play catch in the backyard when we get home."

"Awesome!" Shawn cheered and then promptly began to stare intently out of the window. Henry sighed softly to himself. Well, one crisis averted for now. Now he'd just have to figure out how to tell Maddie everything and figure out how they were going to handle this. Raising the energetic kid was hard enough already, Henry wasn't sure how much this would complicate everything. He already felt like he was floundering sometimes with the parenting thing, how were they going to raise a 'gifted' child?

One problem at a time. One problem at a time, Henry chanted to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It had been a long day at the office and Madeline really just wanted to crawl into bed, bury her head in the pillows and sleep. She loved her work and was a rising star in her field, but it could be mentally exhausting helping police officers and other high risk professionals work through the trauma they encountered in their jobs. And today had been especially difficult. She'd been called to help at a neighboring community where the small police force had to process the murder scene of an 8 year old child, a domestic violence case. The crime was hard on the sheltered community, officers old and young alike not used to facing such horror and tragedy. She could help them process, evaluate their mental states, and give them tools to try to cope, but really, there was little she could do to diminish shocking reality of what they had seen.

It was late, so hopefully Henry had already put Shawn to bed and after the birthday party. Luckily Henry had the shorter day shift and was still able to take Shawn to his friend's house. Maddie worried sometimes that their demanding careers would be hard on him and was happy they could still make this work out.

She stepped into the kitchen, not even bothering to turn on the lights and set her things down, rolling her head to work out the kinks in her neck. She heard Henry creep around the corner and smiled. A great police officer he may be, but he wasn't nearly as sneaky as he thought he was. She didn't so much as twitch when he came up behind her and started rubbing her shoulders.

"Hey, Hun," he greeted, kissing her neck and continuing to massage her tense muscles. "How was your day?"

"Long," she replied. "Had to go all the way out to New Cuyama. Domestic violence murder with a child."

"I heard about that," Henry sighed. Neither of them liked to hear about incidents involving children. But then who did? "You go through Los Padres?"

"Yeah, it may have taken longer, but at least the national forest is always beautiful."

Henry just hummed in agreement. "Well, there's leftovers in the fridge if you're hungry. Shawn's in bed. All the sugar and running around wore him out for once."

Maddie had to chuckle at that. Shawn seemed to be a never ending source of energy normally. Sometimes it was easier just to let him keep going rather than force him into bed. He'd eventually crash, falling asleep in the strangest positions and places. One time it was inside the clothes dryer, another time she'd found him sleeping with the top half of his body hanging of the edge of the chair, head dangling limply toward the floor. But lately, now that he was older, Henry started enforcing a stricter bedtime policy. Maddie wasn't yet convinced it was worth it. But at least tonight it sounded like Shawn had gone to bed without a fuss.

Henry made his way back to the bedroom, and after a quick snack and brief shower, Maddie joined him. Shortly after she had settled in, Henry rolled over to face her, looking at her intently. She knew that face. He was thinking, something was bothering him.

"What's up? Something happen at work today?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, no, no. Nothing like that." Henry sighed, then shifted to sit up. She did the same, clicking on the lamp on the nightstand.

"Well, then? What is it?"

"Have you noticed anything… well, odd, about Shawn?" Henry started. Madeline frowned. She'd known going in to this marriage that Henry wasn't the best at expressing himself or showing his feelings. He often picked the wrong word, or went about saying things in the wrong way, so she waited to hear him out before scolding him for his word choice.

"I'm not sure what you mean," she hedged instead, trying to get him to say what he was thinking.

Maddie knew that sometimes Shawn frustrated Henry. In a lot of ways, their child was just the opposite of his father. Henry was serious, focused. He like to take things slowly, he liked keeping things organized, following the rules and procedures. He was slow to trust and inherently wary about people's motives. That made him a good cop, often a good husband and parent, but not always a warm father or especially romantic partner. Shawn, on the other hand, was enthusiastic about life. He was energetic, talkative, and easily distracted. He ran from one project to another and left chaos in his wake. He was passionate about everything and extremely personable. Granted, he was a four year old, and a lot of that just came with the age, but it did seem to be a part of his personality.

On the other hand, Maddie could also see a lot of things they had in common. Stubborn to a fault, perceptive, and, unfortunately in her mind, she could already see signs that while Shawn talked a lot, he rarely talked seriously about his feelings. He'd even hidden the fact he'd gotten a cut on his leg a few weeks back and it wasn't until bath time that Madeline found it. Luckily it hadn't gotten infected, but she never did get the full story about what had happened out of Shawn. He'd told a fantastical tale about monsters in the backyard, but Maddie suspected the bigger boy Bryan who lived down the street had something to do with it.

So, Maddie noticed a lot of things about Shawn. But she wasn't sure what Henry was getting at or what he considered odd. She was willing to hear him out, though. Much to her regret, he had been spending more time with him lately than she had and it was possible he was noticing something she wasn't.

"It's just – how often have you taken him to that boy Gus's house?" He asked.

"What? Why…"

"Just tell me." Henry stared seriously at her.

"Ok, well, it was just the once. Why? Do you think Gus or his family are a bad influence?" She was starting to get worried. Did something happen there today?

"No, no – it's just… You don't think someone else has been taking him, do you?" He had that look on his face, like he was desperately trying to rationalize something.

"No… who would take him? What are you getting at here? Henry, I'm tired and I'm not sure what it is you are trying to say."

"Ok, it's just – I've been going over it in my head, and I just can't make sense of it Maddie. He knew. Shawn – he knew how to get there, he knew how long it would take, he even knew Mrs. Guster didn't like honey. Maddie – Shawn remembered how many windows their house had."

Maddie frowned. "Ok, so he remembers the Guster's, why"

"No," Henry quickly cut her off. "You aren't understanding me. And it wasn't just today. Shawn – he remembers details like a trained detective. At that party, apparently he guessed right every single time on that Memory card game. I'm saying – you know how you remember everything that is said in your session with uncanny clarity? I think Shawn can do something like that – only with everything."

She was shocked. And now that Henry had pointed it out to her, she didn't know why she didn't consider it before. The signs were there. Shawn's accelerated development; he's early mimicry of words, how quickly he picked up reading. Just the other day in the grocery store she had forgotten her list, but Shawn parroted off everything on it perfectly and even remember exactly how many containers of yogurt they had in the fridge (and was sure to tell her they definitely needed to buy more pineapple flavored yogurt).

"You're right," she breathed, a little horrified she hadn't put the pieces together earlier. This was her own child. How had she not realized this? "You are absolutely right. Shawn's always been smart, but this, this is something more."

"What do we do about it?" Henry asked, anxious for a plan, a way forward.

"I'll call Dr. Martin in the morning. He's a good friend and an expert on early child development. We'll set something up. There are some cognitive tests they can do, see what exactly it is we're dealing with." She quickly started to run through her schedule in her mind. Next Thursday would probably work, or the week after that. It wasn't an urgent matter, not really, but after so long of not even really noticing, Maddie wanted to make sure they started providing for Shawn's unique mind.

"Tests?" Henry frowned, a little concerned. "What kind of tests? I mean, he's just a kid – I don't want them to make a spectacle of him. What's it mean for his future?"

Maddie consciously made an effort to slow down her mind. Of course Henry was going to be concerned and a little confused. He was a cop, not a psychologist, and he wanted to make sure Shawn was protected.

"Oh, Henry, it's ok. They are just like games Shawn will play," she reassured him. "It'll just give us an idea of how we can better help him grow and learn, to understand what he's experiencing and what he'll need. He'll still be a kid, he'll play and go to school. We'll likely just have to make sure to give him harder books and tasks to challenge him, things like that."

Henry nodded, still frowning a bit, but she could tell he felt a bit better about the whole thing.

"I just want him to still be a normal kid," he said.

Madeline nodded, knowing what he meant by that, but also knowing that Shawn may never be what Henry would see as 'normal'. She hoped that as time went on, he'd just come to accept Shawn as he was and his own way of seeing the world.

* * *

Shawn had liked Dr. Martin. He was funny and played games with him. The first ones were easy, a little dumb, but eventually they got better and the more Shawn was able to remember and recite things to him, the more excited Dr. Martin became.

Mom and Dad had both come with him to the appointment. They'd asked a lot of questions and talked a really long time with Dr. Martin. That part was boring. Stuff about 'photographic memory,' 'incredible reasoning skills,' 'amazing development for a child of his age,' blah, blah, blah. Boring.

But afterwards, they bought some new books and puzzles and then went out of ice cream! Ice cream! Shawn rarely got ice cream. Dad said it made him act like a crazy person, but today he got ice cream. With pineapple. So Shawn decided Dr. Martin wasn't so bad.

But then, as time went on, other stuff started to happen. Shawn started school, and while he was initially excited about going, playing with all the kids, all the cool toys they had, it quickly got old. A lot of the kid's didn't seem to like him. Just like at Gus's party, they often accused him of cheating at the games or being mean. But he wasn't mean! He didn't cheat! But they still didn't want to play with him.

Even the teachers seemed to get annoyed with him. Saying things like "give the other kids a chance, Shawn" or "Shawn, you can't possibly be done with that puzzle already" or "Shawn, it's quiet time now." And, ok, so maybe it had been quiet time, but quiet time was boring and Billy had been poking him in the side.

And even his parents were acting a little odd. Mom was always sitting him down, showing him a new book or new puzzle and telling him how smart he was. And Dad – Dad started to quiz him about things. Always telling him to pay attention, stay focused. But all Shawn wanted to do was go outside and be a pirate king!

Gus was cool, though. Gus would always play with him and go on adventures, and find buried treasure (Gus's mom was not so happy though when they dug up her daisies in search of gold). Gus never went out of his way to tell him he was smart, or challenge him to complete a new puzzle. Gus was cool. Gus would wrestle with him, and spin in circle until they got dizzy and fell over, and help him smuggle candy into the house.

Eventually, as Shawn got older, he started to realize that maybe it was Dr. Martin's fault. Those check-ups he had with him, those games and tests he did, it marked him out as weird. As different. As much as Mom kept saying "Honey, you are just gifted! It's a wonderful thing, nothing to be ashamed of," Shawn knew different. Gifted kids were showoffs, gifted kids had to stay inside and work on homework all the time, gifted kids were meanies and cheaters.

So Shawn just stopped. Even though he knew all the answers and could read all the books at school and finish all the problems, he didn't do them all. Now, when he raised his hand, he would say something funny instead. Things that would make the other kids punch him on the shoulder and laugh and make the teachers frown.

He still did his work. He got good grades, because Mom wanted him to. And Dad kept up his tests, his lessons. Those didn't go away, just got more annoying. Dad didn't want him to "waste" his talent.

But Shawn, Shawn would goof off with Gus, make fart jokes in class, and eventually, refused to see Dr. Martin. Shawn decided he didn't like Dr. Martin.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Just a quick note about this chapter – it's written from Henry's point-of-view and deals with some serious issues in the relationship between Shawn's parents. My interpretation of the clues from the show is that neither of Shawn's parents were perfect. Maddie was the emotional, and playful support for Shawn. Henry was more of the disciplinarian. Maybe at times Maddie wasn't available enough or as firm as she maybe should have been with Shawn. Maybe at times Henry was too cold, pushed too much and didn't allow Shawn enough allowance to just be a kid. That doesn't make either of them bad parents, just real people. In my head cannon, they split up just because their lives and careers took them in different paths, and there is no clear or easy blame to be had on either side. **_

_**But, again, as I find it easier to write from Henry's perspective and as I see him as the larger, more constant presence in Shawn's life, this chapter is naturally going to take things from his point of view and be slanted a little more heavily his way. Just a heads up – and a reminder, this is a work of fiction, not statement on how relationships or parenting should be or work.**_

* * *

It just wasn't worth it. Maddie's schedule was busier than ever, it was hard to consistently get time away himself – work as a cop didn't always provide a predictable schedule. And Shawn – Shawn was beginning to throw a veritable fit every time they went to see Dr. Martin. He'd hide in the house, making Henry chase him around, insisting his was a pirate, or an astronaut, or an explorer. When they finally did arrive, Shawn was surly and uncooperative, playing dumb with Dr. Martin, ignoring him, or deliberately giving wrong answers. One memorable time his answer to every question was "pineapple". If nothing else, Henry had to give him credit for being committed to the part – he kept it up the entire day.

So, eventually, with Dr. Martin's consent, they stopped the sessions. It didn't mean they were giving up on Shawn, just moving in a different direction, giving him advanced materials and exercises at home and avoiding the fights that were only hindering his progress.

And Shawn was progressing. He did well in school, though perhaps not as exceptionally as they would have expected given his "gifts". While the teachers were often annoyed by his impatience, his careless regard for authority, his never-ending energy, they had no complaints about his grades. During class he may have played the fool, but he aced all his tests and flawlessly completed all his homework assignments (if a bit begrudgingly). And maybe it was for the best that Shawn didn't end up skipping any grades. He got to stay with is age mates, and Gus was definitely big presence and good influence for Shawn. He stayed steadfastly loyal and friends with Shawn, while all the other kids seemed to go through alternating phases of loving Shawn as the class clown, and despising him as an annoying, know-it-all.

But it was hard. Henry didn't want to admit it, but he was beginning to worry about Shawn. And Maddie didn't see it. She was working – always working, and while she loved and doted on Shawn, she just wasn't around enough to be the enforcer, _the parent_, that Shawn needed. Henry wished she would be around to back him up more when he said 'no', to be the one making Shawn go up and do his homework, to engage and challenge his mind. And when she was around, she spoiled him. Let him go off on his own, engage in his frivolous flights of fancy. Henry didn't resent her for her career, _he didn't_, but increasingly their relationship was beginning to show some strain. Their inherent personality differences, different views on parenting, just increasingly separate lives, it was hard. They both were sure to keep Shawn oblivious to their issues, but as much as Henry wanted to deny it, trouble was bubbling there under the surface.

So it didn't really surprise him when Maddie's work interfered with a promised trip to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History for Shawn and Gus. Gus was firmly in the dinosaur phase, convinced he was going to grow up to be a paleontologist and it was supposed to be a good, learning trip for Shawn, who was still so easily bored by the activities and books they gave him.

Because of that, Henry didn't have the heart to tell them the trip was cancelled. Instead, he volunteered to take them himself. And honestly, he was having a good time. Despite being dragged around by two, over-excited 10 year olds, and the one heart-stopping moment when Shawn very nearly climbed on blue whale skeleton, it was fun to see the world through the two kids' eyes. Shawn was completely engaged, having fun, parroting back the extensive information from the exhibits to the two of them excitedly and without the self-consciousness he usually exhibited.

In the gem and minerals room, Gus and Henry were peering intently at some phosphorescent rocks when Henry noticed the lack of Shawn's typical prattle and bouncing. In fact, Shawn seemed to have disappeared altogether…

* * *

Shawn was giddy with excitement. Today was awesome! His Dad wasn't asking him to count hats, he wasn't doing stupid worksheets to help him "make the most" of himself, and he and Gus got to explore and look at all this cool stuff without worrying about any of his classmates calling him a "freak" or a "know-it-all" or having to worry about being overly silly to keep the other kids from being annoyed with him. And there was a giant whale skeleton! How cool was that?

He had noticed as they were wandering around the museum this weird guy with an Angels baseball cap on who seemed to follow them. Shawn always was noticed stuff like that – people in places they normally weren't, how people tended to move in crowds, all sorts of things. He'd learned not to say anything, though. He remembered how upset his teacher was once when he mentioned he saw him with his classmate's mom coming out of an empty classroom together once. Shawn thought it was funny they were wrestling or playing tag together in an empty room (their clothes were kinda crooked) but his teacher certainly didn't. Shawn really didn't think it was fair for him to get into trouble just because he noticed things.

So Shawn had learned his lesson and he wasn't going to say anything about how weird it was that the guy went to all the same rooms as them and seemed to be way too interested in the stupid museum map, while peeking over at them frequently.

Finally, in the mineral room when Shawn wandered off to another case to look at the fool's gold, the weird guy came up next to him.

"Pretty neat stuff, huh?" he said, looking down at Shawn.

"Nah," Shawn rolled his eyes. "Not really. I mean, it doesn't look anything like _real_ gold. How stupid can you be to not notice the difference?" Shawn was surprised when instead of the scowl he was expecting, the guy laughed.

"You're a pretty neat kid," he said.

"Really?" That wasn't the usual reaction Shawn got from adults. Usually they called him a smart mouthed brat.

"Yeah – you know a lot about stuff here at the museum, don't you."

Shawn beamed.

"Sure – I mean, I know lots of stuff. About the dinosaurs, the building – did you know the museum was founded in 1916? And there are 12 exhibit halls, and pyrite forms naturally into cubic crystal, and real gold has an isometric crystal system and" Shawn went to take a breath but the guy just laughed again an held up his hand.

"I was actually wondering if you knew anything about the people here. The guards, for instance," he said.

"Oh – really?" Most adults didn't ask to hear more from him after he started rambling like that. And people were pretty interesting, though not guards, normally. "They're pretty boring. But did you know they use the same key code on the office doors as they do the display cases? I've seen them enter it – I mean, what's the fun in that? Just entering in the same 6 numbers over, and over again. I'd change it up, maybe use a sequence of prime numbers, or Pi, or maybe the Fibonacci sequence, or maybe the license plate numbers from cars in "The A-Team" and "Miami Vice", or…"

While they were talking, Shawn wandered out of the room with the guy. It was great to have an adult so interested in what he had to say. He wanted to know everything about how the guards timed how they wandered from room to room, the entrances and exits to all the exhibits, he even let Shawn enter the code in one of the super awesome, secret back doors and went with him the exhibit storage!

* * *

Henry was frantic. How could he not notice his own kid suddenly wasn't there?! Shawn wasn't exactly easy to ignore or overlook. He quickly grabbed Gus's hand and started asking the other visitors if anyone had seen him.

"Kid with brown hair? Doesn't seem to stop talking? Yeah, I saw him," said some teenage guy with a truly terrible taste in clothing. "Went with some dude in an Angels hat that way." The kid pointed towards the locked, administration area of the museum.

It felt like a stone was in Henry's stomach. There was no reason, no innocent reason, for a strange man to take his kid into a locked area of the museum. He quickly spotted a security guard and flashed his badge.

"We've got a problem," he waved his hand and started leading the guard to the reception desk and guard station. "About 10 minutes ago, my son Shawn was taken by a stranger into your back rooms. We need to look at the security feed and find out where they are."

"Wait – what? How do you know?" the guard sputtered.

"Look, we don't have time." Henry stopped at the reception desk and turned to the young woman at the counter. A million terrible scenarios were running though his head. Shawn – Shawn could be in all sorts of danger.

"Can you please watch Gus here for a few minutes? We've got a situation and I need someone to make sure he's safe"

"Mr. Spencer – what – where's Shawn?" Gus looked worriedly at him. Henry knelt down quickly and held Gus's shoulders, looking him in the eye.

"I'm sorry, son. I don't have time to explain, but Shawn might be in a bit of trouble and I need you to stay here while I go get him, ok?" Gus nodded, looking back at him with serious eyes.

"Thanks, kid." Henry stood up quickly and looked to the guard again. "The cameras?"

"Right this way," the guard nodded and took the lead to the security station, keying them in and quickly filling in the other guard stationed there.

"There," Henry pointed to one of the screens. It looked like an exhibit storage room of some sort. Shawn was standing over a large box peering at what looked like some large bones. Henry couldn't make out the strangers face, shielded by both his hat and having his back turned to the camera, shuffling through some other boxes, thankfully on the other side of the room with some aisles between the two of them. Henry shakily took a breath. It was bad, but it wasn't as horrible as it could have been. As a cop, he knew exactly how bad a child abduction could get.

"Let's go – while they're separated," Henry ordered. The first guard nodded, quickly calling it in on his radio to the other guards. The second was already on the phone, calling the police.

"But let's do this quietly, we don't want to tip him off before we get Shawn safely out of there."

Henry was used to stressful situations. As a cop, he'd been in firefights, tense standoffs, and dangerous situations before. But this – his heart was pounding. Shawn – so much could go wrong. How could he have let this happen? Why had he even taken Shawn, what if…? He didn't even want to think it.

It seemed like both an eternity and instant before they were outside the storage room door and the guards were looking to him for direction. He took a calming breath, and nodded.

"Ok, here's what we do. I'll quietly open the door and get Shawn's attention. And get him to come over here without tipping the guy off. While I do that, you go in around the outside of the shelves. He should still be in the 4th aisle. I'll close the door loudly to signal you to move in. Be careful." The guards all nodded seriously. They were tense, but focused. Thankfully, it seemed they had been fairly well trained and took his directions without argument.

With a deep breath and a quick prayer that Shawn would just heed his directions for once, Henry carefully opened the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Shawn was beginning to get bored. Now that they were in the back hallways, his new friend seemed a lot less interested in what he had to say.

"I'm telling you kid – you've got a real future in this business," the guy was muttering to him, pulling Shawn along with his sweaty hand on Shawn's arm. "I mean, a mind like that – hell, this small time museum is nothing. We could do banks, hell, maybe the Smithsonian!" The guy laughed lowly. It was kind of creepy in Shawn's opinion, but he was curious about what they were doing and what was around the corner. The museum was getting boring anyway.

The man led Shawn into a cold, darker room. A dim light illuminated rows and rows in the storage room. There were boxes, and bones, and all sorts of treasures!

"Cool," Shawn breathed out, and wandered over to a box full of what must be dinosaur bones.

"Yeah, you stay there kid," the man mumbled out as he wandered off to some other aisle in the room.

Shawn poked around several of the boxes. He was looking for hidden treasures. Just as he was standing on his tiptoes trying to get to a box just out of reach, he saw the door slowly ease opening, spilling light into the room.

"Shawn," It was his Dad. He was whispering, like when they went to the library. He held a finger to his lips, and them motioned Shawn to come to him. With one last look at the box just out of reach, Shawn shrugged and walked quietly over to his Dad. He wasn't sure why he had to be quiet, but it was like a sneaky adventure, so maybe that's just what you did in sneaky adventures.

* * *

Thank God. After Henry carefully opened the door, grateful it didn't creak or groan, he was able to quickly get Shawn's attention and for once, _for once_, Shawn was quiet and came right over. As soon as he was in arms reach, Henry gently pulled Shawn into a hug and spun him away from the door, allowing the guards to quickly and quietly file into the room. He let the door close, picked up a now squirming Shawn and rushed them to the end of the hallway.

"Shawn, _God_, Shawn," he breathed, holding his boy to him. Shawn was really too big to carry, but with the adrenaline, Henry hardly even noticed the weight.

"Dad? What's going on?" Shawn squirmed, pulling away from him, looking perplexed.

After the rush of relief, Henry's concern suddenly turned into a rush of anger.

"God – Shawn! What were you doing?!" Henry shook Shawn's shoulders a bit. "What on earth made you go off with that stranger?!"

"Dad – I don't – he was nice, we were having an adventure –" Shawn sputtered, shrinking back a bit. Looking down at his shoes pulling on then ends of his sleeves, the kid mumbled, "he talked to me, and I was bored, and he wanted to _listen _to me."

Henry closed his eyes and breathed out. Shawn was so intelligent, so sharp, it was easy to forget he was still a kid. All the stranger danger talks, none of that really sinks into a kid's head, not when the person was kind and interested in him. Shawn – it wasn't his fault. It was Henry's. He didn't explain the risks properly, didn't make Shawn understand, hadn't prepared him. That was going to change.

* * *

After the rush of finding and rescuing Shawn, the aftermath dragged on for ages. The police reinforcements arrived and Henry pulled an officer he trusted off to the side to sit on the bench with Gus and Shawn, trying to keep them entertained with snacks while Henry went off to talk to the lead detective. After giving his statement, Henry wanted answers.

"Did the guy talk – did he say anything?" He asked.

"Surprisingly, he did," the detective shook his head. "Not the brightest burglar, he waived his rights and spilled everything with just the threat of kidnapping charges. Seems he noticed your kid right away, followed you around the museum, saw how smart he was. Talked to him, got the kid to tell him the security codes, things like that. Guy was just using him to walk right into the store room. Figured he'd find some gems or valuable artifacts to steal. He's a small time, petty thief who seemed to get delusions of grandeur after listening to your kid. That's one smart boy you've got there – take care of him." The detective nodded and shook Henry hand before turning to talk to the museum's curator.

They were lucky. Henry knew they were so lucky. If it had been more planned, if the criminal had been more devious, a little more cunning and ruthless – the truth was, Henry was scared. He'd never imagined it. Never imagined a casual observation would lead to someone looking to exploit Shawn that way. He swore right then and there, never again. Oh, he knew he couldn't always be there, couldn't always protect Shawn. He'd just have to teach Shawn to protect himself. To notice everything, to see criminals everywhere, to escape, to trust no one. If he just pushed him enough – Shawn would know better and this would never, _never_, happen again.


End file.
